Friday, January 2, 2009

TRAGEDY? IN FERNIE

Excuse me while I take a medical leave. I am in a state of deep shock and grieving over the loss of 8 snowmobilers in the back-country mountains of Fernie, BC. I feel the same pain that Paul Watson must have felt when those Newfoundland sealers were lost at sea last fall. People who use motorized transport in the wilderness for fun exhibit a special affinity for nature that is so rare today. And the snowmobilers’ consideration for other people in the woods is also commendable. I am speaking of those people who came out of noisy cities to snow shoe or ski and get fed up with listening to the gentle wind while savouring the peace and solitude of wild Canada. These are Harrowsmith people who are at their wits end craving urban racket, any loud piercing noise, but, “cavalry to the rescue” comes a snowmobiler and the roar of his macho-machine cutting great grooves in the virgin snow that subsequently freeze over, making walking and skiing over them so much fun. One snowmobiler can pretty well sabotage the outing for ten or twelve quiet people within a half mile radius.

Every human being is precious. All 6.8 billion of us. All 33 million Canadians. I so hate that THEY of all people would be chosen by God to leave us. Let me take this moment now to extend these heart-felt feelings to their grieving families:

The planet is well rid of Canadian assholes like them. 8 down. 10 million to go. If an avalanche doesn’t get them, maybe Peak Oil will ! They didn’t respect nature, or me, why should I pay my “respect” to you?

Was it their “recreational” choice----or their “wreck-creation-al” choice to introduce machines of this foul nature into a winter paradise?

Silence is sacred and these barbarians don’t deserve to be in sacred places.Save motorized “recreational” vehicles for strictly necessary work. Police, search and rescue, ranch and homestead work. Snowmobiles, ATVs, jet skies, outboard motors, that are employed in a recreational manner have no place in contemporary society. We are facing a long emergency. The party is over. No tolerance for boors.

PS Upon reading this a biologist of Darwinian persuasion commented that this incident was clearly a case of natural selection. "Occasionally the primal selective forces of nature are allowed to claim the unfit. My heart bleeds...." He is a man who has spent a career working and recreating in the outdoors for Environment Canada, and has encountered these barbarians too many times to marshal any sympathy.